Sleep Babble
by Cabforcutie
Summary: One shot about Helga talking in her sleep. I'm not good at summarizing. poo.


**Hey again! I absolutely loved all the encouragement I got from you guys. The reviews for the last story seriously made my day. They also bumped up the pressure. As a disclaimer, this story has probably been done many times before so it'll be totally predictable. But it'll hopefully still be worth your time to read =) Also, this is college setting again. I would mix it up but most of my inspiration comes from this phase of my life. **

**Thanks again for welcoming me into the community of fanfiction so warmly, and giving me the courage to continue doing this!**

**I don't own Hey Arnold (really not sure what would happen if I didn't do this, but I don't want to find out either)**

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><p>No one knew that Helga spoke in her sleep, except her roommate. The first time it happened, her roommate was hunched over her chemistry book surrounded by darkness, making due with the small light on her table when Helga let out a loud snore. Her roommate looked up, a little startled, and then resumed her chemistry homework.<p>

A grunt came from the bed across the room, and then in a harsh but barely detectable whisper, "Hey! Hey, you! Stop doing that."

Helga's roommate stared at the big lump under the blankets in horror, "Helga..?" The whispering had scared her a little, it was a bit creepy, "stop…what?"

A barrage of words followed, completely inaudible but spoken in the same frantic, hissing manner. Her roommate froze in her seat. Her eyes locked on Helga's bed, watching the bulge under the blankets, which was presumably Helga and not Emily Rose, go up and down lightly as Helga breathed.

For a while only the sound of heavy breathing could be heard. Her roommate felt her heart rate go down, and slowly, but unwillingly, she shifted her eyes back to her chemistry book.

The eerie quiet was broken when Helga spoke up from under the covers, "Sweetie." Helga's voice was gentle, her words spilled out quickly, "Sweetie, do you need to go the potty?"

_What in the world? _Her roommate cleared her throat, "What?"

"Do you need to go the potty?" Helga said again, in a sincere tone, the words muffled by her pillow.

Her roommate's face went red, as she felt a mixture of fear and amusement.

"Um, no Helga. Go to sleep," She mumbled, a bit embarrassed. She was sure the question wasn't actually directed at her. First off, Helga wasn't even aware of what she was saying, or at least she hoped Helga wasn't. Second, her roommate knew that Helga babysat her cousins to make extra cash, and although Helga was a brash and abrasive person at times, she was surprisingly great with kids. Obviously she was responsible as well. Her roommate was now rest assured that no kid under Helga's watch would be neglected if they needed to go potty.

Hoping that was the last of it, Helga's roommate once again attempted to resume her Chemistry. She heard Helga stir again, and looked up, wide-eyed and terrified, at Helga's moving frame.

Helga lifted her head, and looked at her roommate with beady eyes.

"H-Helga?" Her roommate had a sinking feeling that Helga was not awake yet. _Is she going to stand up in her sleep?_ Her roommate did not sign up for this. _I just wanted to room with a clean girl who didn't smoke, or drink, or bring home random guys,_ Her roommate whined to herself miserably. _Please don't kill me in your sleep, I don't stand a chance against you and your well defined arms,_ the girl silently pleaded to Helga.

To her relief Helga simply placed her head back on her pillow. Shortly after, soft snoring was heard.

Unable to tear her eyes away from Helga's bed, the girl in the room sat staring for a good two or three minutes. After realizing that Helga might actually be asleep this time, she let her eyes flicker back to the heavy book in her lap. _I better get an A on this test,_ the girl grumbled, but didn't dare say it out loud, so as to not stir awake her roommate.

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><p>Helga sat silently with her arms pinned to her side in Arnold's car. She of course felt awkward. His presence always did this to her. Normally, it wasn't difficult to sit in the passenger seat of a car. People managed to do it without thinking. Helga did too. It was just sitting for cripes sake. Around Arnold however, Helga felt painfully self-conscious, and thus even the task of sitting comfortably was difficult to achieve. She first tried to lean back and relax, but felt herself lean too far back for comfort. Then she shifted to a more upright position and crossed her legs. But she soon found that there was little room in front of her to do that, as she had to squeeze her surprisingly oversized knee under the abnormally low glove compartment. She noticed Arnold's eyes flicker from the road to her peculiar position in the passenger seat, her knee now stuck under the glove compartment. She attempted to act as if it was comfortable, not wanting to call more attention to herself by moving again, but felt more and more like a goober for it. She finally decided to sit non-crossed legged, with her arms pinned to the side, upright.<p>

"Are you comfortable?" Arnold turned his head slightly to the right to look at her, before looking back at the road. _No,_ Helga thought.

"Oh yea, I'm fine," Helga lied.

She wasn't even supposed to be in a car alone with him. Phoebe had driven her an hour and a half away from campus to see Arnold and Gerald, among other boys that Helga could care less about, play basketball in some tournament hosted by a state school.

It was needless to say that Helga had come along willingly, grateful for Phoebe and Gerald's relationship, which she could use as an excuse to cover up her actually reasons to attend the game. She was Phoebe's loyal friend. Phoebe wanted to see Gerald play and she didn't want to drive alone. Arnold just happened to be playing too. No one would suspect a thing.

The outing had lasted longer than Helga expected. The game started at 10 pm for some odd reason, lasted for about 2 hours and was followed by a long late night dinner at a burger joint, which was about an additional half hour drive away from campus.

It was apparently a must to drive to that exact restaurant for burgers however, as Gerald argued, "No man, If we're going to have burgers, they gotta be from Legendary. Trust me, it'll be worth the drive," Ignoring the groans he received in reply to this idea.

"Plus, they put your picture on the wall if you finish their two pound burger. My picture's going up on the wall twice tonight," He placed his arm around Phoebe's shoulder, a far off look on his face as he daydreamed of that moment.

Before they began heading back home Phoebe took Helga aside to quietly ask, "Would it be ok if I took Gerald home…in my car?" Phoebe almost looked guilty, "You could get a ride with Arnold," She finished sounding a bit hopeful.

So here she was, three something in the morning, stomach full of the Swiss mushroom burger that admittedly HAD been worth the drive, seated in the passenger seat of Arnold's car with her arms pinned to her side.

On top of this, she was having trouble keeping her eyes open. Not only was it late but Helga had driven down here with Phoebe after taking a midterm that she had sacrificed sleep for the night before.

The low hum of the tunes on the radio didn't help either, as they bribed her eyes shut. _Just going to rest them for a bit,_ Helga justified in her head.

The soft song on the radio was disturbed by a snore. Arnold broke out of his daydream and blinked at the girl asleep on the seat next to him. She moved a little, her head swiveling to the side, before letting out another snore. Arnold bit back a smile and reverted his eyes back to the road.

He then heard her mumble something. It was wispy and quick. He couldn't make it out. He looked at her again, "Um, Did you say something?"

Her head was still hanging down awkwardly, eyes still shut. A louder snore that crackled and growled was released from her mouth.

He turned back to the road, sure that he had heard something. His mind digressed as he began staring at the stretch of freeway in front of him.

A giggle escaped Helga's lips, jolting him out of his thoughts.

He glanced at her face, amazed to note that her eyes were still closed. Another gleeful snort was heard, "Everything…" Helga spoke like a child, emphasizing the i-n-g ending. Arnold listened, his face contorted in confusion.

"Tickles," Helga finished before snorting lightly.

Arnold smirked, trying to stay quiet. Helga shifted at this. Arnold froze and sealed his lips shut.

"Tickles and…" she took a heavy breath, "Tickles."

Arnold turned away to look at the road, eyebrows raised, mouth twisted to resist the urge to laugh. _What the heck kind of a dream is she having?_

"Heyyy you," apparently sleeping Helga had more to say.

Arnold gave her a sideways glance. "I..you're cute" Helga finished, slurring the last two words, delivering the message abruptly in her sleep.

Arnold looked at her from the side of his eye, briefly curious to know who she was referring to.

"Oh," Helga continued, sighing blissfully, "Arnold."

Arnold turned to her again and blinked, surprised to hear his name. "Uh, yea?" He felt stupid for responding. He was pretty sure Helga was having a one man conversation with herself. It was unlikely that she was expecting a reply, seeing as how she was asleep.

"You nincompoop," Helga smiled in her sleep.

Arnold stared straight ahead for a bit. _Aright then,_ he thought to himself, sarcastically.

"Arnold," Helga huffed, he braced himself for more insults.

"You're so cute."

Arnold slowly turned his head to look at her, befuddled.

"Can you please…" She snored, "Please…" the words trailed off.

Arnold turned the radio down to hear her better. A puff of air flew from her lips.

"Don't eat that handkerchief!" She exclaimed in hushed urgency, mashing all the words together as she spoke in frenzy.

Arnold leaned back in alarm. He gripped the steering wheel higher up, as he straightened his back.

"Arnold," She got back on topic, "Oh, Arnold." This time it was spoken faintly.

A sideways smile crept on his face. He glanced at the girl. Her hair was tied back in an untidy fashion while her head was at an uncomfortable 90 degree angle, mouth agape as she snored. Sure, she was a complete kook for whispering sweet nothings in her sleep, but he would be lying if he didn't admit to enjoying the car ride all the more for it.

He took the exit off the freeway and drove the rest of way home listening to nothing but the radio, with an occasional snore from Helga.

They rolled into the parking lot in front of Helga's on-campus apartment before he switched off the ignition.

The faint sound of crickets chirping from somewhere far off could be detected in between Helga's snores.

Arnold contemplated the best plan of action.

"Helga?" he said softly, although the point was to wake her up. She didn't move.

"Hey, Helga," Arnold still whispered, bringing his hand up to her shoulder to nudge her lightly, "Hey."

She gave out a snore that, frankly, sounded a bit painful, before gasping and awaking with a jerk. Her head snapped out of the sideways position it had been in for the better part of the ride.

"Hmm?" She responded, a bit disgruntled, rubbing the side of her neck.

"Hey," Arnold spoke quietly, "We're here."

Helga looked at him with perplexed eyes, taking a minute to recall where she was.

"Oh," She looked around his car, "Okay."

They sat in silence for a bit. She noticed his gaze on her.

"What?" she asked, placing her fingers to her face a bit insecurely, "What are you staring at?"

Arnold chuckled as he looked away.

Helga's face heated.

"Stop being weird," She commanded, as she grabbed her bag and began opening the door.

Arnold simply smiled back as he watched her get out, "Whatever you say Helga, Whatever you say."


End file.
